With the objective of inserting machinery that favors the development of tobacco cultivation and humanizes agricultural work, 40 tobacco producers in the Pinar del Río province received new tractors and implements.
Through the Tabacuba Business Group, the farmers finalized the acquisition of the equipment after investing part of the currency obtained in the tobacco campaign.
Marino Murillo Jorge, president of Tabacuba, explained that a part of the tractors was purchased by seats and the other directly from the manufacturer, without the need for intermediaries to participate in order not to increase costs.
“The producers received the equipment at the same purchase price, we have even given them the opportunity to pay, in principle, 80 percent with the money from this campaign and the remaining 20 with the next one. In addition, in the future the payment facilities could be expanded, ”he said.
For Alfredo Luis López Herrera, a producer from the Francisco Barrios cooperative in the municipality of San Luis, having his first tractor is an advantage. “Not only will it allow me to prepare the land faster, since I used to do it with a team of oxen, but I will be able to use it for other agricultural tasks. It’s a comfort.”
“We have had very good results in tobacco, that is why we decided to invest our currency in improving production much more. It is no secret to anyone that with good implements a better blow is given to the land, and the effort we put into the work is greater,” said Elieser Jesús Córdova Cruz, son of the Habano Man Servilio Jesús Córdova and a member of the CCS Camilo Cienfuegos of the San Luis territory.
The president of Tabacuba highlighted the will of the tobacco growers to reinvest almost 50 percent of the profits for the benefit of the tobacco activity and pointed out that the gradual entry of 270 of these equipments is planned for this year.
In relation to the 2023-2024 campaign, Murillo warned that some 18,000 hectares are expected to be planted throughout the country, much of it on Pinar del Río land.
“When we start planting in October, we have to go out and collect 25,500 tons of agricultural tobacco. In Vueltabajo we could go around 11,000 hectares to be planted, but we also have to build 5,000 houses of care between now and December, we have to make a big effort”, he said.
